How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2? (1939-1941)? Flashcards
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): When was the Netherlands defeated by the Nazi’s?
May 1940
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish Population in the Netherlands:
approx. 160,000
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to the Jews in the Netherlands?
- after its surrender, the Netherlands were taken over by the SS
- Jews were fired from their jobs in the civil service
- businesses had to register their assets
- Jewish students were expelled from schools and universities
- in Jan 1941, several hundred young Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps in Germany
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): When was France defeated by the Nazi’s?
June 1940
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish Population in France:
approx 350,000
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to the Jews in France?
- the German army occupied Northern and Western France
- in Southern and Eastern France, a (French) gov was set up that collaborated with the Nazis (called the ‘Vichy government’)
- March 1941 - Jewish property was taken away leaving 1000s homeless
- in the Autumn, both zones of France passed antisemitic laws, which were applied in France’s colonies in North Africa - Morocco and Algeria
- Jews were no longer allowed to work as doctors, lawyers, teachers, in industry and trade, in the civil service or the military
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): When was Denmark defeated by the Nazi’s?
April 1940
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish population in Denmark:
7,500
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to the Jews in Denmark?
- the Nazi’s allowed the Danish gov to continue to rule the country, as they saw Danish people as ‘fellow Aryans’
- the Danes protected the Jewish citizens
- throughout this period Jewish people in Denmark typically continued to live as they did before German occupation
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): When did Romania join the Axis powers?
November 1940
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish population in Romania:
approx. 600,000
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to the Jews in Romania?
- Sept 1940 - a group of military officers and a fascist movement, the Iron Guard, seized power in Romania and joined the war
- the gov intro new anti-semitic measures and took away Jewish property
- some Iron Guard members attacked Jews in the streets, robbing and sometimes killing them
- Jan 1941 - dozens of Jewish civilians murdered in Bucharest
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish Population in Germany:
approx. 243,000
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to Jews in Germany?
- when WW2 started majority of Jews had jobs taken away
- Jews given a strict curfew and not allowed to enter certain parts of many cities
- given reduced food rations and were only allowed to buy specific supplies from specific shops at specific times
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): When did Hungary join the Axis powers?
November 1940
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): Jewish population in Hungary:
825,000
How Jews were treated across Europe at the beginning of WW2 (1939-1941): What happened to the Jews in Hungary?
- between 1938 - 1941 the gov passed laws against the Jews
- Jews and non-Jews couldn’t marry, and Jews were excluded from various jobs
- 1939 - forced-labour service created form male Jews
- once Hungary joined the Axis powers - labourers sent to help war effort, at least 27,000 subsequently died
What did Germany and the Soviet Union do after conquering all of Poland
divided it up between them
What was Nazi occupied Poland called?
the ‘General Government’
Why were ghettos were created?
- within the ‘General Government’ there were approx. 2mil Jews
- Nazis regarded the large number of Polish Jews as a big problem
- during time of war, the Germans saw Jews as an even bigger threat to their security and so they wanted to control them
- Nazis also had false belief that Jews spread diseases & should therefore be separated from others
- to try and deal with what saw as a Jewish ‘problem’ in occupied Poland
- Heydrich ordered that Jews should be moved to certain areas of towns which would become ghettos
- differences in what happened to Jews living in ghettos, size of ghettos, and the amount of time the ghettos lasted
- purposes of ghettos was to temporarily house Jews in one place and to isolate them
- use Jews for labour and work to help war effort - slave labour and horrible working conditions
What were ghettos?
- entire communities were uprooted ands shetls devastated
- ghettos were sealed off from the rest of the world and the Jewish people inside could not leave or contact people outside
- later as Nazis invaded and occupied other countries in the E of Europe, 1000s more ghettos created
- ghettos were considered to be a temporary solution to what Nazis saw as the ‘problem,’
- at that point, the Nazis wanted to remove the Jews fromEurope but weren’t sure how
What was one of the options Nazis were considering to deal with what they saw as the ‘problem’ of Jews?
- moving them to the island of Madagascar
- Madagascar plan was not new; first proposed in 1933
Where was the Warsaw ghetto?
Poland
When was the Warsaw ghetto created?
Oct - Nov 1940
When was the Warsaw ghetto liquidated?
April - May 1943
How many Jews lived in the Warsaw ghetto?
400,000
What happened to Jews in the Warsaw ghetto?
- 70,000+ people died from disease and starvation
- approx. 300,000 murdered at Treblinka extermination camp in 1942 & 1943\
- 10,000+ died in ghetto
- uprising in April - May 1943
- after uprising 20,00+ deported to labour camps where most of them were murdered in Nov 1943
Diary Entry in June 1941 from Mary Berg about Warsaw ghetto
“One of the plagues of the ghettos is the beggars, who continue to multiply.”
Where is the Riga ghetto?
Latvia (1940-1941 Riga occupied by Soviet Union)
When was the Riga ghetto occupied?
Aug - Oct 1941
When was the Riga ghetto liquidated?
liquidated Nov 1943
What happened to Jews in the Riga ghetto?
- 25,000+ Jews from Riga shot in Nov & Dec 1941 to make room for German Jews
- most of German, Austrian and Czech Jews shot in 1942
- survivors sent to Kaiserwald concentration camp in Riga 1943
- several 1000s of Jews from Riga murdered by concentrations among created, German, Austrian and Czech Jews
Where is the Soprano ghetto?
Hungary
When was the Sopron ghetto created?
May 1944
When was the Sopron ghetto liquidated?
July 1944
How many people and who lived in the Sopron ghetto?
1800 people lived there - Jews from Sopron and nearby towns
What happened to the Jews in the Sopron ghetto?
July 1944 - almost everyone deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, almost all murdered when arrived in Auschwitz
Quote from Ludwig Weiler about the Sopron ghetto:
“we were four of us in one room in one of these older places…”
Why were most ghettos located in Eastern Europe?
most ghettos located in Eastern Europe partly because of Nazi racial hierarchy and because there are more Jews in Eastern Europe - most Jews in W Europe didn’t live in ghettos, Jews in E Europe less assimilated into country
What were the living condition s of ghettos like?
- living conditions of ghettos crowded and cramped - lots of disease, not enough food or good healthcare
- lots of forced labour being done - slave labour
